Chapter Four
To starting and ending the day with his unexpected dance partner.
That idea wholeheartedly appealed to Asher.
After all, when he left the diner that morning, he was already intrigued by Kelley Munroe.
And now he was all too curious about the cowgirl chef who had plans to return to New York City. His city.
And returning meant Kelley had been there. Asher had questions, and if he had to use a fabricated catering meeting to learn more about Kelley, he had no qualms about that. Although, hiring Kelley to cover the meals for the stables was on his mind, too.
He polished off the cheeseburger from Lucky Lane Tavern and tossed the wrapper into the trash can in the quiet ranch house kitchen. The rest of the large to-go order he had dropped off at the employee break room in the filly barn down at the stables where Big E and Joe were also currently eating.
Asher hadn’t stuck around. Without knowing the state of the stable’s financials, he hadn’t wanted to make promises to the employees that he could not fund.
And if his father was guilty, that was a stain he didn’t want to spread to the remaining staff who were proving their loyalty now.
He realized that included Kelley, too. How could he hire Kelley if he could not pay her?
Did you do it, Dad?
The burger sat heavy in his stomach, making Asher wish he had opted for a side salad instead.
If his father had gotten himself into some sort of financial crisis that made him desperate enough to dope his own horse, well, they would have more headaches than sanctions from the National Racing Compliance Agency to contend with.
Asher left the sweet potato French fries untouched in the to-go container on the kitchen island and headed for his father’s office. It was time to get to work on finding out those answers, even if a part of him did not really want to know.
Inside his father’s office, he flipped the light switch on the wall and immediately closed his eyes.
But that only seemed to set his memories on hyper-focus.
The last time he saw his father was in this office.
Father and son had squared off against each other with only the cherrywood desk as a buffer between them.
His father had expected Asher to step right into his dead twin’s role as heir apparent. Asher had refused and told his dad that Dylan could never be replaced. And then Walter lobbed his first jab. On that, we agree. Your brother always knew what mattered most and never let me down.
Asher hadn’t flinched. But his father was not finished. All I need you to do is get in line and do exactly what I tell you. That’s how these stables will endure with a Blackwell at the helm.
Asher hadn’t been able to simply get in line and silently follow in his father’s bootsteps. Honestly, he hadn’t been able to see past his grief that afternoon and it seemed to be trailing him ever since.
Asher snapped his eyes open and scanned the room for something to hold on to.
He grabbed the scuffed baseball from the nearest shelf with photographs of his brothers from their school days all dressed in their baseball uniforms. Each one was smiling wider than the next.
His gaze skipped to another shelf with a picture of his mother in front of the Christmas tree, laughing as a squirming golden Labrador retriever licked her cheek.
The puppy had been the boys’ gift to their mom and it was a toss-up who was more excited that day—the brothers, their mom or the puppy. Happy times—they were in there, too.
Asher exhaled, collected his emotions and pushed the past into the to-be-dealt-with-at-a-later-date column.
Then he made his way over to the desk and dropped into the worn leather chair to find those answers.
Only an hour later, Asher realized he was more confused than ever.
He stacked his hands behind his head, leaned back in the chair and stared at another empty document folder on the computer screen.
He heard the front door open and close softly.
Heard the footsteps on the wood floors. Then glanced toward the archway, expecting to see Big E.
Only it was Kelley. She had changed from her diner uniform into denim shorts with a muted plaid button-down shirt over a soft purple tank top and cowboy boots.
She looked comfortable and relaxed. And suddenly, Asher knew what a breath of fresh air truly meant.
“Bad time?” she asked then shifted the box she carried to one hand and motioned toward the foyer with her other. “Big E was on the front porch having a rather lively video chat with his great-grandkids. After he introduced me to them, he told me to go on in.”
“Sorry.” Asher washed his hands over his face to stop staring at Kelley.
She was enchanting for sure, but that was no reason for him to act like a tongue-tied teen with his first crush.
He cleared his throat and stuck to the business side of things.
“I’m just stumped. This computer has not been touched since Dylan bought it a decade ago.
” That only happened because Asher told his brother what model to get that would handle the business books and accounting software.
He added, “It seems my brother was the last person to log in.”
Kelley tipped her head and considered him.
“Don’t mind me. You aren’t here to listen to all this. You wanted to know if it’s a bad time.” He stood and moved around the desk then leaned against the front edge. “No. It is not a bad time. I could use a break.”
“I brought after-dinner sweet treats as an apology for earlier at Lucky Lane.” She moved toward him. “I should not have put you on the spot like that.”
He never moved to accept her offering and said instead, “Look, Kelley, about that. I don’t want to be the one keeping you from whatever is waiting for you in New York.”
“That’s just a misunderstanding between Pauline and me.” She shook her head. “There’s nothing for me in New York anymore.”
Loaded statement there. And there once was something in New York for her—he could see that much in her guarded gaze. He nodded and asked, “How long have you been home?”
“Since Christmas.” She adjusted her hold on the treat box and fluttered her fingers as if brushing away a gnat and continued, “It’s not a very interesting story.”
Now, that, he doubted. He found her very interesting.
Yet, he could tell from the subtle jut of her chin and pushback of her shoulders as if bracing herself against the memory, that whatever happened in the city was not pleasant.
You can keep your secrets, cowgirl. And I’ll keep mine. We can call it even.
“Tonight is supposed to be about the food.” She flipped open the top on the box and said quickly, “Please don’t say no to the catering until you’ve tried my food.”
“I’m thinking it might be possible I already have,” he said quietly. “Back in New York.”
“If you ever ate at Verona Heights in SOHO, then you’ve tasted my food before.” She lowered the lid on the box and said, “I was the Chef de Cuisine there.”
He had, in fact, eaten there. On more than one occasion. It was a favorite lunch spot for his firm’s legal team. He scratched his chin. “I don’t recall seeing you there.”
Her smile was small and brief. “I preferred to stay in the back of the house. My ex-husband worked the front of house.”
That explained why Asher hadn’t recognized her name on the menu.
And he assumed her ex-husband was part of that not-so-interesting story she didn’t want to share.
He wasn’t asking, either. Getting to know her would tip this evening into something it was not meant to be.
He preferred to keep the personal out of his business.
And this was about business. It always was.
He said, “It seems I have already tasted your food. There’s no doubt I will like whatever you cook. That’s not the issue.”
“You need a cook and I’m offering to cater for you.” Her eyebrows pulled together. Confusion shifted across her face. “I’m not seeing the issue.”
“It’s simple.” And yet, so very complicated now that he realized for the first time in a long while he was reconsidering his moratorium on dating.
Of course, that implied he was going to ask her on a date and that she would even accept.
I don’t recommend it, cowgirl. He braced his arms on the desk behind him and said, “To be completely transparent, I don’t know if the stable can afford you. ”
Her mouth formed an O shape.
He tipped his head toward the old but never used desktop computer and focused on the real problem at hand.
After all, his success depended on knowing his strengths and his weaknesses.
And relationships had never been part of his skill set.
“The financials, it seems, are not where I expected them to be.”
“Maybe Walter used an online app for his banking and accounting records,” Kelley suggested.
Asher shook his head then picked up an old-school flip-style cell phone that he’d discovered in the desk drawer earlier. “The last text Walter sent was more than a year ago. He never much cared for tech things.”
“What about Joe?” Kelley asked.
“Joe only deals with the horses and the employees. Walter handled all the money, including the accounts receivables and payables as well as the payroll. They both called it a beautiful partnership.” Asher stood, opened the accordion-style closet doors and revealed a four-drawer metal filing cabinet.
Cardboard filing boxes were stacked on both sides of the cabinet like crooked bookends.
“It seems Walter might have had something of a manual process.”